Hundreds of millions of dollars and less than 30 days later, Warner Bros. Discovery announced that it was cutting the cord on streaming service CNN+. As originally reported in Variety, the operation will officially cease on April 30.
News/talk pundits wasted no time pouncing on the flop, which was trending on Twitter for several hours Thursday.
Nationally syndicated radio hosts Clay Travis and Buck Sexton broke the news to their audience shortly after signing on; Travis called the move an epic failure.
“I think that’s basically the length of Kim Kardashian’s marriage to Chris Humphries back in the day, if I’m not mistaken,” said Travis. “This is maybe the biggest media failure of all time when you consider that they have invested hundreds of millions of dollars in the launch of CNN+.”
“What do you think the over-under is on when Chris Wallace shows up on The Masked Singer or perhaps Dancing with the Stars?” Sexton added.
Caroline Nahill, who works at CNN, tweeted about the news, saying CNN+ was her first job out of college.
“Dozens of entry-level budding journalists, most of whom graduated in the pandemic, are in the same boat,” referring to a lost opportunity amid the news of the shutdown. “Keep them in mind alongside the big names.”
More seasoned journalists who don’t work for the network weighed in. NPR’s Mary Louise Kelly tweeted that she was thinking of those behind the scenes that will most likely be left without a job.
“Sending strong thoughts to the journalists & friends who poured their talents & energy into creating something brave and new at CNN+. Here’s to the next chapter.
CNN made massive financial commitments to several people including Chris Wallace who was hired to headline a show on the network. There is no word on his future.
